Thiessen



(No'MOdeL) H.- E. NIESE. Filtering Sugar Liquor,

No. 240,922. Patent ed May 3,1881.

Unrrnn Tarts ATENT FFICEQ HENRY E. NIESE, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO F. O. MAT- THIESSEN & WIEOHERS SUGAR REFINING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

FILTERING SUGAR-LIQUOR.

SPECIFICATION forming" part of Letters Patent No. 240,922, dated May 3, 1881.

Application filed April1,188l. (NomodcL) To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY E. NIESE, of Jersey City, New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Filtering Sugar-Liquor,

of which the following is a specification.

My improvements relate to apparatus for facilitatin g the employment of the canvas bags used for filtering sugar. Such bags are commonly attached to and suspended from nozzles inserted in the bottom of the sugar-liquor reservoir or tank.

In practice the sugar-liquor from the tank is forced by hydrostatic pressure through the interstices of the material of which the bags I 5 are composed, and the mechanical impurities present are retained in the bags. At intervals recurring with more or less frequency, according to the character of the sugar-liquor, the bags require to be emptied of the impuri- 2 ties they have collected and washed clean. There is ordinarily involved a delay of ten or twelve hours to permit the complete draining of the bags, owing to the diminished hydrostatic pressure ai'ter the tank has been emp- 2 tied, and also owing to the clogging of the interstices in the material of which the bag is composed. During this period, therefore, the filtering-apparatus is comparatively idle.

It is the object of my improvement to avoid this delay; and my invention consists in the combination, with the tank and nozzles to which the bags are attached, of suction-pipes, which are adapted to be inserted through the nozzles into the bags respectively, and which 3 5 are connect ed with a pump or vacuum-chamber, by means of which, after the tank has been emptied, the sugar-liquor is withdrawn from the bags without waiting for it to escape by exudation. The bags can then be imme- 0 diately removed and clean bags attached to the nozzles, and the operation of filtering can at once be recommenced.

The accompanying drawing, illustrating my invention, is a central vertical section of a til- 5 ter-bag and a nozzle, to which the bag is attached, and of a portion of a sugar-liquor tank or reservoir, showing in elevation a suction-pipe inserted through the nozzle into the bag.

The sugar-liquor tank A may be made of any desired size, according to the number of filters which it is designed to supply.

The drawing represents in central vertical section a single canvas-bag, (l, the top of which is attached to the nozzle B, which is inserted in the bottom a of the tank. The mouth of the bag is usually tied or clamped to the nozzle, and a suitable vessel is provided to regeive the sugar-liquor as it filters through the 'ag.

To rapidly empty the bag after the tank A has been emptied I provide a pipe, D, which is adapted to be inserted through the nozzle B into the bag 0, and is connected with an ordinary pump or vacuum-chamber, by means of which the sugar-liquor is withdrawn from the bag. A section, d, of the pipe may be made of glass, or have glass plates inserted in it, to allow the observation of the air-bubbles in the pipe, which by their presence indicate that the bag has been nearly emptied of liquor. WVhen the liquor has been withdrawn from the bag the valve d is closed and the pipe D is withdrawn from the bag, which can then be removed from its nozzle, preparatory to emptyingand washing it, and a clean bag can be at once attached in its place.

In practice the pipe D does not extend to the bottom of the bag, and thus the mechanical impurities are left in the bag undisturbed while the superincumbent sugar-liquor is being withdrawn.

In cases where a large reservoir is employed, with numerous nozzles to receive the filterbags, it may be convenient to employ the pipe D as a plug to prevent the escape of liquor into the filter-bag, after the operation has been carried on so long that the bag has collected a considerable quantity of mechanical impurities and requires to be cleaned. In such a case the valve d in the pipe may be closed, and the pipe allowed to remain inserted in the nozzle while the bag 0 is being removed and a clean bag applied to the nozzle in its place, after which the pipe D can be withdrawn from the nozzle, and the sugar-liquor will be supplied from the tank to the clean bag.

I claim as my invention- In apparatus for filtering sugar-liquor, a pipe, substantially as and for the purpose set tank provided at; its bottom with a downforth. wardlyprojecting nozzle, to which a filter-bag 1 T 1 T is attached,in combination with a suction-pipe, H13) b1 A IESE 5 which is adapted to be inserted through the Witnesses:

nozzle into the bag, and means of withdraw- M. L. ADAMS, ing the sugar-liquor from the bag through the I ASA FARR. 

